Brief intro: Taking photo's seriously since 1980, 35mm film, Blad 500 c/m, my first digital to play with was a Dimage 7. Shot weddings, less models, photo-journal in the Army Reserves for a bit. Never took it on as a prof. but a serious hobby that I made a little coin with from time to time. Okay, just got my Digital outfit:EOS 20D, Sigma 12-24 EX, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L, EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS, Flash Canon 580. I have CS2, plan on doing most of my work in RAW. Considering the Canon iP8500 or the EPSON 1800 (haven't done enough research yet, so opinions welcome on that).

Finally my question: I currently own SpyderPro (phtocal, optical, precal) and can get an upgrade discount of 25%on Spyder2Pro but can't tell from adds or anywhere else what my benefits will be. Basically is the newer product worth the 225.00 with discount?

The Spyder 2 is certainly better than the Spyder (which isn’t saying a lot). The Spyder 2 is so slow, it’s like watching paint dry. That said, the results are much better than the original. The software is also much cleaner.

Thanks for the info guys. Without spending a fortune, say 300.00 or less, what would you suggest for the serious amature? I can get the Spyder2Pro for 225.00 due to upgrade price. (My monitor is a Dell 21" Ultrascan P1110 probably 6 years old now). As I said, I'll be using CS2 and either Canon iP8500 or the Epson 1800 printer. I want very good quality as I will be selling some prints but I'm not looking to make a living.

I second Andrew's suggestion re Monaco Optix XR - I have been using it with great success. The monitor calibration software is also important. Of course Optix XR comes with its own bundled software. An alternative is to purchase the same calibration tool (under another name: DTP 94) along with improved software called ColorEyes Display in a bundle from Integrated Color Corporation http://www.integrated-color.com/Merchan....ration. Integrated Color Corp

I think it's more of a quality control or calibration inconsistency on the part of the Spyders. Quite a few people have had bad results with Spyders, but the results I got from mine aren't that different from what I'm getting from my EyeOne Pro spectrophotometer. The EyeOne Pro is better, but not dramatically so. IMO I got lucky with my Spyder; perhaps you did as well.